Jolomo award winner: ‘I can relax and concentrate on my art now the money is there’

Mr McClure, a graduate of Edinburgh School of Art who worked in Fishers in Thistle Street, in Edinburgh, said the prize had been “life-changing”.

“There were days with the nature of cheffing, the long hours, that there was not much free time and going to the studio was quite an effort,” he said.

“I can relax and concentrate on my art now that I know the money side of it is there.”

Beth Robertson Fiddes, 39, also from Edinburgh, who won the runner-up prize of £6,000, said she entered the competition after making a new year’s resolution to “try and push myself”.

“I used some of the prize money to travel to St Kilda which I couldn’t have envisaged doing before as it would have been quite expensive. I had been working part-time in a shop selling fishing tackle so it was quite a change.”

Katie Pope, 28, from Glasgow, fellow runner-up who won a prize of £4,000, said the award had allowed her to stop using her bedroom as a studio and work in a studio.

She said: “I had to keep watching not to get paint on the bedclothes. Now I can really concentrate on painting landscapes of Glasgow, a city I think is beautiful.”

SHÂN ROSS